Nature Window: California Poppies

There is a special orange flower common in California that likes to keep a schedule. It's called the California Poppy. When night comes, they close their petals. When daytime comes, they open their petals. Everyday they do this. If it is sunny, they open their petals really wide.

Poppies remind me of the Bible verse, Psalm 55:17, which says, "Evening, and morning, and at noon I will pray and cry aloud. And He shall hear my voice" (NKJV). Just like poppies have a regular schedule of opening and closing their petals, we should have a regular schedule of praying and spending time with God. Our Bible story today is about prophet Daniel who prayed to God three times a day every day.

On your nature walk today OR looking out your nature window, can you count how many flowers you see? Do you see any orange flowers that remind you of the California poppies? God made so many different kinds of flowers. Each one reminds us of how special we are to Him.

Memory Mastery: The Godhead

This quarter we are learning more about the Godhead. During our time, we will unpack a little of the mystery of God to help the children understand some important principles. At the end of our questions and answers, you will find a poem about the Godhead that I want the children to memorize.

Who is God?

God is our maker. [Can you pound your fist like you are building something?] He put our bodies together before we were born.

God is our provider. [Can you hold your hands out to give?] He gives us everything we need to live (air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, clothes to keep us warm, roof to keep us dry, and family to love).

God is our Savior from sin. [Can you cross your arms like you are in jail, then open them to be free?] He died for our sins and gives us power to obey, so we can live forever with Him.

​Did God really make everything? What was there before Him? Reference: Acts 17:24-28

God is the Creator of heaven and earth and every living being.

He has always been there. He was there before anything existed. He was there before your mommy and daddy, before your grandma and grandpa, before Abraham and Noah, before Adam and Eve, before the animals, before the earth was created, before the angels lived, before the whole universe was here – God has always been there, and He will always be here.

And God wants each of us to get to know Him and be His friend, so He inspired prophets to write the Bible – His words to us.

Do you like to be alone all by yourself? Neither does God. In fact, did you know God has his own family? References: 1 John 5:7; Mark 1:9-11

We call His family the Godhead.

There are 3 persons in His family – The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Can we see God? References: 1 John 4:12; John 6:46; Hebrews 4:14; John 15:26; John 14:7-9

No, we can’t see God, but we know He is there. There are a lot of things we cannot see, but we know they are there. Can you think of any examples? (air, microscopic organisms, certain wavelengths of light, magnetic force, etc.)

But, people long ago did see Jesus when he walked and lived on earth. Now, Jesus is in heaven serving as our great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. Even though He is way up there, we can still see Jesus here. When we prayerfully read the Bible, the Holy Spirit will show Him to us. And Jesus will show us the Father.

Here is a poem I wrote to help us remember each person of the Godhead. Let's say it and do our hand motions.(This poem is the actual memory mastery project we will memorize as a class.)

Who is God? [arms and shoulders raised up like I don't know.]

Heavenly Father, to whom I pray. [point up, then hands folded in prayer]

Jesus Christ who died for me. [open arms wide like cross, then point to self]

Holy Spirit who lives in my heart. [swirl on finger around, then point to heart]

All 3 are one God of love. [show 3 fingers, show 1, point up, then hug self]

- by Inga Goodwin

Mission Trip: A Secondary School for Libreville, Gabon

Don't forget to bring your coins to Sabbath School! We are collecting them for our 13th Sabbath mission project - a new Seventh-day Adventist secondary school in Libreville, Gabon.

Most of Gabon is covered in tropical rain forest. Learn more interesting facts about the tropical rain forest in the video below.

Bible Story: Daniel in the Lions' Den

Reference: Daniel 6After Babylon, a new kingdom, called Medo-Persia, came to power. King Darius was so impressed with prophet Daniel's wisdom and leadership in Babylon that he wanted to make Daniel the lead president over all the rulers in the land.

Prophet Daniel continued to worship and obey the God of Heaven. Even though he had a lot of duties to keep him busy, he knelt by his window to pray three times a day.

Prophet Daniel knelt by his window three times a day to pray to God. Can you hold up 3 fingers and count to 3? Courtesy of Sweet Publishing and FreeBibleImages.org

Some of the rulers in Medo-Persia got very jealous of prophet Daniel. They didn't want Daniel to rule over them. They tried very hard to find something wrong in Daniel's work to accuse him before King Darius, but Daniel always did what was right.

Then, Satan gave them a terrible idea. They went right a way to King Darius to tell him about it. "King Darius, all of us leaders agree that you should be honored in a special way. Let's make a new law that cannot be changed. Everyone in the kingdom cannot pray to any god except to you, King Darius." King Darius liked the new law and signed it. The evil rulers quickly went to Daniel's house to watch him.

Evil rulers tricked King Darius to sign a law that said everybody must pray to King Darius. Can you shake your head no? Courtesy of Sweet Publishing and FreeBibleImages.org

Daniel was sad that the king would sign a law like that. "I will only pray to the God of heaven," he said to himself, as he continued his custom of kneeling by his window to pray to God. The evil rulers watched Daniel all day. Three times Daniel knelt and prayed to the God of heaven. Three times he broke King Darius' new law. They quickly went back to the king.

"King Darius," they cried, "we found someone who already decided to break your new law." "Who is it?" said the King. "It is Daniel, one of the Hebrew captives," they said. "Now, you must throw him in the den of lions because he refused to pray only to you!" King Darius was mad with himself now. He liked Daniel. He realized that the evil rulers tricked him. The laws of Medo-Persia cannot change. He had to throw Daniel in the lion's den.

Because Daniel kept praying only to the God of heaven, King Darius ordered to the soldiers to throw Daniel in the lions' den. Oh no! Can you point to Daniel? Courtesy of Sweet Publishing and FreeBibleImages.org

When the evil rulers brought Daniel before King Darius, the king said, "I am sorry I have to throw you in the lion's den. I hope your God is able to save you." Then, the soldiers put Daniel in the lion's den and closed the pit. The king spent the whole night worried about his friend Daniel.

Early the next morning, the king rushed to the lion's den. "Remove the stone," he ordered to his soldiers. The king leaned in and called out, "Daniel are you still alive? Did your God save you from the lions?" Daniel called back, "yes, King Darius, I am fine. My God sent his angel to shut the lions' mouths, because He knows that I have done nothing wrong to deserve this." The soldiers pulled Daniel out of the pit.

An angel shut the mouth of the lions. The next morning, King Darius found Daniel safe and alive. Can you raise your hands in praise to God? Courtesy of Sweet Publishing and FreeBibleImages.org

King Darius was so happy that his friend was okay. He told his soldiers to throw those evil rulers and their families into the lion's den. Then, he wrote another law that said that nobody could say anything bad about Daniel's God.

Our prayer verse is Psalm 55:17, which says, "Evening and morning and at noonI will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice" (NKJV). It didn't matter if Daniel was very busy. It didn't matter if Daniel might lose his life. Nothing could keep Daniel from spending time with God in prayer. Do you take time to pray and talk to God? He wants to hear from you. Dear Father God, I want to spend regular time with you in prayer and reading my Bible. Thank You for hearing my voice. In Jesus' name, Amen

Let's play a game called Stop and Pray. As you listen to this song, move around the room. But whenever the music stops (randomly), you have to stop whatever you are doing and put your hands together like you are praying. When the music plays again, move around. Daniel always made time to pray, even if he was having a busy day. Do you take time out of your day to pray?